The weekend had gone by uneventful, and, surprisingly quite peaceful for Gilbert. Elizabeta sure was one to make sure he stayed out of trouble— and he did feel a bit more at home with her anyway. Not only that, but she was right about him and Lily getting along well. They were in much of the same situation, both separated from their siblings. She was a bit shy at first, but in no time at all she'd warmed up to Gilbert and even trailed behind him wherever he went.

As for having to go back to school, Gilbert couldn't have been any more unenthusiastic. It was one thing for Elizabeta to see him generally happy, but aside from being one of the only people he shared that side of himself with, it made no exception for the attitude he gave everyone else.

She'd even offered to take him to school along with Lily, but after a moment's hesitation and two cups of black coffee, he'd taken her up on the opportunity. He didn't have much of a choice anyway, continuously being on probation since last year, Gilbert wasn't allowed to drive at all.

Not that he knew how to, anyway.

First to be dropped off was Lily, who was obviously a bit afraid of facing her first day of school alone. Though Gilbert was more than just a little tired, he was able to talk her into getting out of the car and promised to visit later.

Slouching down in the passengers seat, Gilbert set his feet up on the dashboard, earning a look from Elizabeta.

"Really, Gil? Feet off, this is a company car."

Gilbert only laughed, not moving an inch. "I don't think it's still valid enough for you to use this 'company car' shit on me, I mean, I can't even see the floorboards. Now that I think of it, this car hasn't even come close to clean since they gave it to you." He retorted, shrugging.

Elizabeta punched him playfully in the shoulder, trying to hold back a laugh.

"Oh, shut up! Who are you to tell me how to take care of my car, you don't even know how to drive!"

"Pff, whatever. I'll learn how to drive one day and I bet you I'll have the cleanest car on the face of the earth." Gilbert scoffed, pulling the felt of the seatbelt.

Elizabeta only rolled her eyes.

"Actually, I can't really argue with you on that one. You don't act like it but you really are one of the most organized people I've ever known." She paused for a moment, taking her eyes off the road for a split second to pick at her nails.

"I guess that's one thing you and Roderich have in common."

"Hey! Don't compare me to your classical excuse of a boyfriend. We have more differences than similarities, so it would really help me if you'd stop trying to find things we have in common."

Eliza ignored his statement, turning back to the steering wheel.

"Did you get any sleep this weekend?"

Gilbert shrugged, giving her a strange look at her question.

"Barely? Why are you so concerned about it?"

"And there's the reason your grades suck!" She shook her head.

"You've been sleeping in class, have you not?" Elizabeta looked at him from the corner of her eye, pulling into the school parking lot.

"Maybe?"

"Well you need to stop, alright? Just get through today… okay? I'll pick you up again this weekend and we can talk about Lud." Her eyes flashed with concern for a moment, before she smiled and ruffled his hair as Gilbert fumbled with the seatbelt buckle, trying to sling his backpack over his shoulder.

"Now get out of my car, kiddo. I gotta get to work."

The German only rolled his eyes at the nickname she often used for him, stumbling out of the car and stretching to yawn, before starting to jog to the entrance.

"Text me if you need anything!" She called, before putting the car back in gear.

"You need to stop worrying, the last thing I want is for you to turn into Roderich!"

XxxX

Gilbert had done the very thing Eliza had asked him not to do, sleep in class. In fact, he'd done it most of the day, even skipping lunch just to rest his head on a textbook and close his eyes.

Damn, when was the last time he'd gotten a full nights sleep? He couldn't even remember.

He was only fully awake during creative writing, seeming to perk up at the dread of a new assignment.

Group projects.

And even worse, he'd been paired with Ivan. Of all people, why him? It was his creative writing teacher who wanted them to be friends. Gilbert didn't quite know why he disliked the Russian, but he did naturally act that way toward everyone. Maybe it was the fact that he'd actually tried to be nice, and Gilbert wasn't used to that. But maybe Eliza was right, he just had to let people in. Well, he wasn't going to make that an easy task, but there was no way he was doing all the work in this project. Besides, it was kind of impossible to do it by himself anyway.

The assignment was, strangely enough, to design a character that combined traits from each partner, and write a timeline for them.

Well, that was easier said than done.

The first moments of awkward silence consisted of Gilbert absentmindedly plugging his earbuds in and resting his dirty sneaker-clad feet on the desk. He laid his head back to look up at the ceiling, before turning to to face the Russian.

"Honestly, I don't understand how we're supposed to make this character shit up. We're two different people, am I right?" Gilbert said, his voice laced with an annoyed tone. He pulled his writing book out, opening it and erasing the single-stanza poem he had written just days earlier.

Ivan's gaze shifted to read the poem just before Gilbert finished erasing, but even then his handwriting was too dark to disappear completely.

He tasted life's bitter cup,

Refused to drink the portion up.

But turned his crimson gaze aside,

Disgusted with the taste and died.

"Your poem, it's really good." The words fell from Ivan's mouth before he could stop them.

But Gilbert's reaction was a little more mixed than he expected it to be. The German paused, his pale cheeks dusted lightly with pink. Honestly, he didn't know whether to except the compliment or be mad because Ivan had read his poem.

Damn, social skills. Gilbert could've sworn he had some, somewhere in the back of his clouded mess of a mind. But even if he did, he'd never learned how to use them.

"Thank you?" The statement came out in more of a question, and he shut his book with a bit more force than he wanted to, awkwardly pursing his lips.

"But really, why the hell would you have read it? Obviously if I had erased it I wouldn't have wanted anyone to read it." He raised an eyebrow.

"Just curious, I guess." Ivan shrugged, twirling his pencil between his fingers.

"But if you didn't want anyone to read it, maybe you shouldn't write so dark next time. I can still see it." His voice held an absentminded tone. Usually Ivan was rather shy, but he couldn't stand people like Gilbert. Rude, always trying to make an argument. He could become quite sarcastic and boastful around people like Gilbert.

Obviously, this was not the kind of attitude Gilbert was used to hearing from someone of Ivan's type, so it infuriated him in the slightest.

But, in attempts to break the awkward silence between them, Gilbert forced the question.

"Hey, why were you at the DHS office on Friday?" He asked, a hint of genuine curiosity stirred through his words.

Ivan paused for a moment, albeit a bit confused at the question. He wasn't as willing to give him an answer as he was, to top Gilbert's question, with another question.

"Reasons. But my question is, why were you there on Friday? I've never seen you there before."

Gilbert only laughed for a short moment, brushing his bangs from his face.

"Are you kidding me? I practically rule the place. Well, child welfare at least. I was transferred to this part of the state a couple months ago."

"Transferred? Why are you in child welfare anyway?" Ivan asked, his attention now fully focused on the smaller male sitting across from him.

Gilbert only laughed once more.

"Wow, you're funny. Why should I tell you when you're not willing to tell me why you're in child support? I think child welfare explains it enough, and we don't have time for a life story. Not that I would tell you anyway, I barely know you."

"…You have a point there. I guess that's another story, if we're ever anything more than total strangers."

"Pff, like that'll ever happen." Gilbert rolled his eyes.

"You'd be lucky that I'm even trying to get along with you. The only reason is, I refuse to do this project alone. And I have enough empathy to think of how someone would feel if I made them do all the work."

Gilbert flipped his bangs from his face once more.

"And so, I guess this is the part in which we actually start working."

At which point, the bell rang. Many students were eager and quick to jump up as it was the end of the day, but Gilbert only bit his lip and shifted in his seat, going a little tense.

He didn't want to go home. Any place was better than home, even school.

Ivan noticed this as he got up to leave and paused a moment, looking back at Gilbert.

He was obviously uncomfortable with something.

"Hey, you want to come to my house to work on the project? I wouldn't mind it, and it would give us some more time to figure out what we're going to do for the assignment." Ivan asked, waiting for a response from the other male.

Gilbert noticeably relaxed, a relieved smile crossing his pale lips.

"Actually, if you wouldn't mind, could I?" He asked, biting his lip.

Maybe trying to make friends wasn't so bad, but it still wasn't much of his forte.

At least, someone was actually making the effort to talk to him, even after he'd basically told them to fuck off.

Ivan smiled lightly, nodding.

"I wouldn't mind at all."

GAH I'm so sorry this chapter is short and welllllll overdue. School has been quite stressful as of late, and I haven't had much motivation to write, unfortunately.

But I have nine days off for thanksgiving break and I really have nothing better to do…

But I'm also plotting another story! Another reason why I haven't updated was because I read the whole Maximum Ride series in like, three weeks (I'm such a weeb).

And I just recently finished The Lightning Thief and the graphic novel for Rick Riordan's 'The Red Pyramid'. (Which was really good, both the book and the graphic novel.)

But I'll stop babbling about how much of a fucking book nerd I am and cut to the chase.

I wanted to make a Maximum Ride AU for RusPrus, go figure.

Max and Fang just really remind me of those two and gaaaaaah.

And if you haven't read Maximum Ride, if you decide to still read my new story than you'll catch on pretty quickly. If you have, kudos to you.

But anyways, I apologize for the long hiatus! I will probably be able to update more as the semester ends.

—Mars